You lost points when you said it's better than Wheel of Time. And the Aegis key was, in fact, one of the worst "puzzles" in the game. And the Miyamoto fight at the end is such garbage. I think I beat him only because he got stuck on geometry somewhere. Ugh, Daikatana sucks. Let's reinstall and play it again.

The Wheel of Time game..? The one that assumes you have no idea how to solve puzzles, so it'll show you, for example, something you need on the other side of a wall of fire, and then right next to the wall of fire, a rune that puts out fires? That you will NEVER USE AGAIN IN THE ENTIRE GAME? (And then does the same thing with a bunch of other specialized situations and single-use runes?) The one where they rendered all the cutscenes with character models with their knees bent like they were sitting down, even if they were standing up, so they all walked like Torgo from Manos: The Hands of Fate? THAT Wheel of Time? Because that was crepe. I actually went to the trouble of returning that one. (Back in the days when you COULD return software.)

I never finished it but I rarely finished any games at that time. I liked it because of the architecture and setting. I liked the levels in Shadar Logoth because it was interesting to have to run from the invincible tentacles instead of fighting them. I liked that there were defensive and offensive spells. It was different from most FPSes at the time.

I finished Saints Row the Third today. I'm pretty sure it's the first GTA-style open world game that I've seen through to main story completion. I don't think Brutal Legend counts. Anyway, the game is bonkers but it's so much fun! I have the DLC to get through, but I've read that it mostly doesn't hold up well against the base game.

Does anyone want to set up a date for some LFD2 versus action? I want to spit and puke on people!

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

Because it's gross? If you don't like gross, you probably won't like LFD2.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

Left 4 Dead 2 is scary at a minimum. It emphasizes action and teamwork well above any scares. In fact, every special infected has its own ambient sounds and music. Once you recognize these, and they're rather obvious, you will never be surprised by what you run into. You may hear a hunter, and be surprised when he jumps on you because he was sneaky, but you'll definitely know he's out there before it happens.

On top of this, there are always three other friendly survivors with you. Even when you play alone, there are three bots. Whether you're playing with humans or bots, the characters automatically say something when they see or hear it. They pretty much ruin every potential scare. It's very accessible.

I'm a few hours into Far Cry 3. It's incredible that a game as polished as FC3 could be crippled by the most regressive failure of a checkpoint/save system I've seen since, I dunno, Daikatana. Seriously, was this not playtested? I played most of the afternoon, and I honestly have no idea what will be done or not when I go to load my game. Will the outposts I captured still be captured? Will the side missions still be complete? Will I show up somewhere arbitrary? Does the save function in the menu actually do anything at all? Who knows? Plus I bet I get the phone call pointing me toward the next story mission and a handful of "New tutorial" popups AGAIN when I start it up again.

The UI is hideous (how many clicks does it take to discard 5 dirty needles?), the story is preposterous, the checkpoint system blows - don't accidentally go into a mission area when you're hunting sharks - and I think I know exactly which phone call you're talking about. However, it's one of the most satisfying shooting experiences I've ever had. I would advise everyone to play it despite the horrible UI, the quicktime events, the weird buggy saving, and even the dubstep because it's just super fun. Oh Vaas, you philosophish king you.

_________________Goddamn that Rick Santorum has a pretty mouth. -sameness

Which Civ? I have 4 and all the expansions, but I only have the base game of 5.

And I have no idea how multiplayer Civ works. Is it real-time? I mean, I know Civ is turn based, but do we both need to be present to play? If not, I'd be totally down, despite my obvious disadvantages.

Here are mine while I'm at work. I'm sure I'll find more when I get in front of my Steam library.

SyndicateI liked the original Syndicate, but I'm not such a purist that I can't appreciate a FPS reboot, particularly when that reboot is made by Starbreeze. The game has that Starbreeze quality of motion where you feel less like a gun hovering in the air, and more like a whole person. The single player campaign is well made, and the boss fights are interesting. The multiplayer is 4 player coop that kind of feels like cyberpunk Left 4 Dead. Also, the 4 player coop bears more than a striking resemblance to playing the original Syndicate from a first person perspective.

Alan Wake's American NightmareI loved the original Alan Wake, and this short downloadable game is more Alan Wake, except the combat is more varied. And unvaried combat was a big problem of the original game, so it's awesome to see that they recognized it. However, it gets a bit repetitive because you replay all three main areas of the game three times. But you more or less fast-forward through most of it on the second and third playthroughs, and the replaying isn't necessarily arbitrary. It's part of the story.

Binary DomainWho would've guessed Sega would publish a game worth playing this year? This game was made by the same team that makes the Yakuza games, and it's the Japanese Gears of War. Except it's kind of better than Gears of War. You can have up to two other companions, and they have differing abilities, and there's a social system where you gain or lose trust with them, which affects the ending.

The Walking DeadThere's a reason this game was released in episodes, besides that that's just way Telltale Games makes them. This is an excellent adventure game with some real moments in it that happens to occur within the setting of a zombie apocalypse. Sometimes it feels a little too much like a choose-your-own-adventure, and your actions affect the story less than you think they do, but they create the illusion that you're in control very convincingly. It won game of the year at the VGA's this year, which is kind of spectacular if you think about it. An adventure game made in 2012 won game of the year from a very mainstream outlet, over Halos, Dutys, and Battlefields.

Spec Ops: The LineThis is not the wargame you want to play. You probably won't even enjoy playing it, which might be the point. But you should play it anyway. It prompted one video game writer to write a 100+ page analysis of it.

FTLFTL is fun much in the way that Nethack is fun. It's completely randomized, even if some conventions can be more relied upon on FTL than in Nethack. It's one part Battlestar Galactica, and one part Star Trek in which you control a starship on the run from a fleet trying to destroy you. You control all of the starship's functions, like power flow and doors and sensors. Your crew will suffer for your mistakes. Your ship will be boarded while it's leaking oxygen and your engine compartment is on fire. You'll fight raiders, slavers, aliens, and robots. It's a fun game to lose and learn from your mistakes, and play again and die from something new.

Hotline MiamiHotline Miami takes place in 1989 Miami, and the developers jammed a lot of what comes to mind when you think of 80's and Miami into a super-violent, top-down action game. It kind of plays like the old PSX era game Loaded, in that it's more or less a violent puzzle game; ie. you spend a lot of time trying to decide who dies in what order in order to best prevent your own death.

Torchlight 2Torchlight 2:Torchlight::Diablo 2:Diablo It's fun, beautiful, and fast-paced. It improves upon the original Torchlight almost as much as Torchlight improved upon Diablo 2. If you were disappointed by Diablo 3, you were probably looking for Torchlight 2.

I think The Walking Dead is the only game I played this year that actually came out this year.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

Which Civ? I have 4 and all the expansions, but I only have the base game of 5.

And I have no idea how multiplayer Civ works. Is it real-time? I mean, I know Civ is turn based, but do we both need to be present to play? If not, I'd be totally down, despite my obvious disadvantages.

I got all of them on steam. You do both need to be present. You can set it up so it moves quickly. I think you do turns simultaneous. It's been a while.

_________________"This is the creepiest post ever if you don't know who Molly is." -Fee"a vegan death match sounds like something where we all end up hugging." -LisaPunk

My list, keeping in mind that I played fewer games this year than usual and have some games I haven't played yet that I know are good:

Spec Ops: The Line - I like being depressed about games. (I'm impressed that a game can do that. It's made me a little depressed about games I've played after it, including Far Cry 3-- somebody said something like "You're trying to be something you're not!" and I was like "Oh yeah. :(")

Dishonored - whooo, a multipath stealth game that's actually about stealth IF YOU WANT IT TO BE! Options! Choices! Somebody pointed out that all the choices are pretty equally repulsive, and sure, but you do get to sneak around knocking people out and stuff.

World of Tanks 0.80 update - they added physics, which changes the game pretty dramatically-- now you can push other tanks off of cliffs and you can't hang on the cliff edge and exploit the invisible wall that kept you from falling off in 0.75. Now you fall off and your tracks break and the enemy circles around cackling evilly and loading AP rounds. The End. Fun times.

Farm Simulator 2013 - NO SCOPE CORNSHOT (well, maybe not, but it's pretty engaging, even if I do fall asleep playing it)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown -- yep, that's XCOM all right. The good bits from the old game with a pleasantly modern aesthetic. Still turn-based, hooray!

Which Civ? I have 4 and all the expansions, but I only have the base game of 5.

And I have no idea how multiplayer Civ works. Is it real-time? I mean, I know Civ is turn based, but do we both need to be present to play? If not, I'd be totally down, despite my obvious disadvantages.

I got all of them on steam. You do both need to be present. You can set it up so it moves quickly. I think you do turns simultaneous. It's been a while.

Let's do this. I'll load up Civ 5 tonight, and check out the multiplayer options. Then maybe we can get a game going sometime this weekend. Add me on Steam or tell me who you are, because if we're already friends then I don't know which one is you.

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

Hotline Miami - The atmosphere and creepy interludes and music are great. Sometimes I feel a little ashamed when I'm walking back to my car through piles of bloody bodies. Do I like hurting other people?

Dishonored - so much stabby. The world is really well realized and fun to explore. I played through on low chaos and many of the non-lethal options seem worse than just killing the targets. The Pendleton twins really got it rough now. I need to play again as I never possessed a fish.

XCOM - It's so weird to become emotionally attached to your troops, but Colonel Alice "Emo" Douglas is the finest sniper I've ever had the pleasure of serving with.

Probably Far Cry 3. I watched a tiger attack some pirates who were escorting prisoners. The pirates started shooting at the tiger and the prisoners ran. Soon, the tiger managed to kill both of the pirates and then took off after their fleeing captives, who I assume also got mauled. Did you know the best way to put down rabid dogs that have overtaken a kennel is to use a rocket launcher? It's quite hilarious.

_________________Goddamn that Rick Santorum has a pretty mouth. -sameness

Dishonored - so much stabby. The world is really well realized and fun to explore. I played through on low chaos and many of the non-lethal options seem worse than just killing the targets. The Pendleton twins really got it rough now. I need to play again as I never possessed a fish.

Plus you can send the one noblewoman off to live in seclusion with her stalker. It didn't occur to me until later how creepy that actually is.

Quote:

Probably Far Cry 3. I watched a tiger attack some pirates who were escorting prisoners. The pirates started shooting at the tiger and the prisoners ran. Soon, the tiger managed to kill both of the pirates and then took off after their fleeing captives, who I assume also got mauled. Did you know the best way to put down rabid dogs that have overtaken a kennel is to use a rocket launcher? It's quite hilarious.

Or the Shredder! The Shredder is kind of overpowered. BRRP BRRP.

I was sort of wandering around and noticed an outpost. I was sneaking up and deciding whether it was worth taking it over right then (I was low on supplies or had to pee or go to bed or something) when I realized they were shooting and cursing. But had they seen me? No! A pack of komodo dragons had decided to go chew on some pirates, and while I watched from a distance, they killed them all! The victory music played; the tribal flag was raised. I gained 1500XP for a stealthy takeover without firing a shot or even really decided to take it over. Go me! I shot the fork out of those damn lizards before they could chew on me too. Thanks for the help guys! BRRP.

The story is interesting-- it has definite flaws (I realized, and potential spoilers, but I tried to keep it vague.)

(The White Man's Burden, Magical Negroes, and I suspect from a screenshot I saw, tattooed nudity and sexin' coming up) but the core has potential. The spoiled kid and his rich friends wandering around being spoiled and getting drunk in Thailand, forced to take control of his previously aimless life when everything he knows and loves is torn away? That's a neat story! It's wrapped in mystical hoo-ha, but I have to say that the whole thing with him dealing with his brother's death and the kidnapping and rape of his friends is an interesting character arc. (The rape was also handled pretty well, I think-- the horror of the situation was hinted at enough so you knew what had happened, and stabbing that dude was quite satisfying. Plus the rapee was an interesting choice, considering how those sorts of things tend to go-- that is, it was a guy kept as a sex slave, not a woman. I'm going to be watching to see if there are lingering mental consequences after his ordeal.)

I enjoyed Mr. Protagonist's girlfriend saying, "We've been through a lot. You need to process," and Mr. P saying "NO I MUST GO AND SHOOT SOME PEOPLE NOW I WILL COME TO TERMS WITH MY LOSS THROUGH MASS QUANTITY MURDERS." Take that, touchy-feely libruls!

So yeah, Far Cry 3 would be on a best-of list except for the busted saving and the annoying popups, and Ubi is at least patching the popups. So go Ubi!